Did Nokia fix the AT&T Lumia 900’s camera? We think they have.

If you’re a regular reader (and listener) of this site you know by now that myself and fellow camera-enthusiast George Ponder have been…harsh…on the AT&T Nokia Lumia 900’s camera. We rated it as one of the worst we’ve used in quite some time (though not as bad as Dell’s) and it often prevents us from using the phone as our daily driver. The Titan II though easily blows us away.

We’ve staked our position that it’s the hardware that is the problem on the 900 and while we still believe that to be the case it does appear Nokia has finally figured out how to best optimize its software. Of course we’re talking about the un-released Tango OS and firmware update which we detailed yesterday.

For the last 24 hours we’ve been pouring over the camera, snapping pictures in different environments and we have come to this conclusion: this update dramatically fixes the Lumia 900’s camera…

We won’t spend too much time going into the details of what is different as we’ll let our photos and full-crops speak for themselves. But this is what we noticed as the main difference: improved ISO performance.

ISO deals with film speed and exposure and it has a direct impact on image-quality. To keep it short, the higher the ISO the faster the camera can take the picture. The lower the ISO, the slower the exposure. That’s why when doing sports, people used to buy “800” film and for studio shots they would shoot at “200”.

The tradeoff though is this: the higher the ISO, the more image noise (“speckles”) you get. The lower the ISO, the cleaner the image. Cameras today will adjust ISO automatically by metering the scene (measuring the ambient light) but you can also manually override it too. The reason we do this is because the camera doesn’t know if you’re shooting still-life e.g. a flower or a dog running.

Back to the Lumia 900. One complaint we previously noticed was that in forcing the ISO to a lower setting like 100 or 200, the resulting picture was simply just too dark and it still looked terrible. That shouldn’t happen. Assuming we were holding the camera still, the camera should have increased the camera exposure, letting in more light and giving us a nice, clean image (so long as nothing was moving).

This issue now seems fixed with this latest update. We were able to shoot at ISO 100 indoors while holding the phone very still and we had much cleaner, well exposed photos.

In fact, forgetting the manual ISO business for a minute, image noise overall is down significantly on our photos. Sure, when leaving it on Auto and shooting in low-light (no flash) you still get significant noise—that’s a product of the physical sensor—but overall IQ is much better than before.

As we mentioned yesterday, metering itself seems much more accurate, correctly following our tap-to-focus area and adjusting the exposure dynamically to match the scene. Image sharpness also looks to be improved whereas our previous images were much softer.

Finally, other things like white and color balance also seem to be much more accurate, resulting in very neutral looking photos.

We’re not saying the AT&T Lumia 900 with ‘Tango’ and the 12223 firmware now has the best camera but it has significantly improved our resulting images. In fact, we’re not embarrassed anymore to share them with others.

Having said that, we still think the HTC Radar with a 5MP BSI sensor will take a Lumia 900’s 8MP FSI sensor any day of the week which is a shame. Hopefully Nokia will get on the BSI-sensor bandwagon with Windows Phone 8 as they seem to have finally nailed down the software part of mobile cameras.

Current Lumia 900 users can look forward to the Tango and 12223 firmware update in the coming weeks on AT&T.

Images for this artile were taken with the AT&T Nokia Lumia 900 with unreleased but finalized Tango OS and 12223 firmware. Image ISO was on Auto, contrast was set to ‘High’ and the flash was never used. Crops are provided for image noise and IQ analysis.

The "problem" with tap to shoot is the same thing that most use as an advantage... selective focus. If you tap to shoot on just any random spot on the screen, it's likely to focus on an object you really don't want and blur the rest. You just have to know that in advance and make sure you tap on an object in the image you want clarity on (and ideally in the foreground of the image).

Microsoft really missed the boat with it's camera in WP7. It had all the best ideas and half-baked software that let OEMs rush camare software and settings that were ho-hum. Remember wp7.0 couldn't even save camera "settings". Shocking considering how much they played up photos in the WP7 hype.
Microsoft would be smart to bolster significantly it's "in phone" camera settings, ISO, AF, plus add crop, digital horizon/level, brighten/contrast right in the phone (no apps needed) and also noise-reduction features (before the files is even saved it should be cleaned ala Nikon Raw files).
That said you guys are little harsh on the 900 camera. Plus att has many phones wiht great cameras (focus, titan1-2, etc.). OTOH Verizon has the Trophy. Ugh.

Sure it is!!! :-) I have this phone on AT&T's 4G LTE network and at least THAT'S fast. I actually like it. I've never had a problem with the NL900 camera, though come to think of it the pinkish tint in the middle is getting more obvious. Nice to know a company sees a problem, then fixes (vs. ignores) it.

I have to admit I'd like to see something more exciting than 'the stuff we showed off back in March (February?) is now available on Windows Phone.' Not that I'm in the market until another year and a half...

Guessing I'm one of those so called 'trolls' as mine actually does tale decent photos and yes, for a lot of individuals, photos in general on phones and digital cameras turn out poorly due to user error.

Actually the ISO is how sensitive the Sensor is, a low ISO like 100 means the sensor doesn't pick up alot of light and is useful for sunny days, an iso like 1600 is very useful for images in the dark because it allows the sensor to pick up alot of light but also creates for noise. Shutterspeed is displayed like this: 1/60 or 2". The first means the picture is "taken" in 1/60th of a second which would be a clearer picture of a fast moving object then the second one which means the sensor has 2 full seconds to take the picture. I'm not a professional photographer but that's just how I learned it!

That's kind of it...it's certainly complicated. It has to do with the increase in signal gain. On film, it had to do with grain size...the larger the grain, the faster the film. On digital, it's the signal gain that represents that aspect.

But size of the sensor, type of sensor (BSI or FS) and the aperture (F-stop) also all play a roll too. A lens at F/1.4 can shoot at lower ISO than a lens at F/5.6 in the same lighting conditions. It's one of the reasons why the Lumia 900 has a really good FF camera--lower aperture.

The general trend though is still the same: the higher the ISO, the faster the camera can shoot in low light with the byproduct of "grainy" photos.

All else being equal, you want to shoot at the lowest ISO possible to get the shot as this will result in the cleanest image. If you camera is judging the scene at 800 ISO when it could grab it at 400 ISO--that's not good. Nokia may have adjusted the curve for the Lumia 900 with this update--hard to say.

Ok a little off topic but sometimes when I read articles on Wpcentral I have the feeling that editors (Daniel and them) usually try to not anger fanboys lol. Small example: "We rated it as one of the worst we’ve used in quite some time (though not as bad as Dell’s) and it often prevents us from using the phone as our daily driver. The Titan II though easily blows us away".

Here is the stuff that you didn't have to add.

1. though not as bad as Dell’s
2. The Titan II though easily blows us away

It's stuff that just keep fanboys from... Well... Getting all fanboy on you lol.

I use several programs that use the camera to recognize the barcode. It can take a hundred times to recognize the code using the camera but if you switch over to the search or at&t code scanner it usually identifies it in half a second. Brings up another question as to why the programmers use the camera instead of the at&t or search code?

Anyone know if the sound quality of video was improved like the 800. In the GSMArena review they had mentioned that the bitrate of audio recorded left much to be desired compared to the updated 800. Also, does this update fix battery issues, specifically those that suffer from a total battery drain?

Sorry but this is pure fanboy exageration. The L900 camera is not as bad as this site is claiming it to be. Using words like "blown away" and "smoked" and "crushed" is surprising because that is simply not the truth.

"Having said that, our impression is this: yes, it is better. Does it still get crushed by the Titan II? Oh of course it does"

Exaggeration is exaggeration. I have a Titan 2 (me), Focus S (wife), L900 (daughter) and I can guarantee that the Titan 2 does not "crush" the L900 camera. In my experience from using all these devices and comparing shots with them is that the L900 does not have great out-of-the-box-settings. I few tweaks and your off to the races. Besides, gadget sites like Engadget praised the L900 camera. Now, I'm not saying the L900 camera is the best. Not at all. But it is far from getting "crushed", just imagine....even after the update.

I disagree 100% and nothing you have said has convinced me or George otherwise. Sorry.

Tell you what, I'll do a shot-by-shot of the Titan II, Lumia 900 and Radar if you want. I use all those phones on a regular basis. There is just no way a non-BSI sensor is as good.

Not only is the Titan II's camera sensor better it has much better software like facial-recognition and smarter auto-selection. The Lumia 900 has to be manually put into Macro mode where the Titan II does it automatically.

No competition and I truly think you're just trying to convince yourself.

"I disagree 100% and nothing you have said has convinced me or George otherwise. Sorry."

That's exactly what I said about you. Admit it, I'm not saying the L900 camera is better. I'm calling you out on your ridiculous exaggerations and you are in denial.

"Tell you what, I'll do a shot-by-shot of the Titan II, Lumia 900 and Radar if you want."

People have been asking and you've been saying that since the L900 came out. You never did. Put your money where your mouth is. It'll just prove that nothing gets "crushed". Remember, that's my argument, your blatant exaggeration.

Just noticed the 800 takes photos with a pink hue in the middle when shooting on low light. So hopefully this fix will come to the 800. Actually I'm sending my wifes 800 to Nokia next week to get an issue fixed. I will mention the pink hue in photos and see what they say.

They may have fixed the camera, but what about the freezing up (requiring a restart), the lag (yes it has it), and the other operational issues? Now, I have been a staunch supporter of windows for a long time, but I must say that my HTC Arrive has by far out done this Lumia 900. I own 2 of them, have had to replace 1 already, and still have multiple problems. Oh well, should probably go back to the Arrive, at least it never let me down.

Why are there no before/after pictures? Seems like you just did a subjective judgment call.
I have two lumia 900, one with tango and one without and just did a comparison of pictures taken of the exact same scene (different conditions to test the range).
I do NOT see any difference between the pictures